


A Rooftop Garden

by MoonShiner (SunWeaver)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Family, Goodbyes, Homesickness, M/M, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Unplanned Pregnancy, cuddling and talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:26:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26545201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunWeaver/pseuds/MoonShiner
Summary: “Where you headin’, Caduceus?”“Just tending to some errands,” He said with a smile.Fjord’s brow raised, “OK..? What do you mean-do you mean shopping or the bathhouse or…?”“Namely shopping, won’t be restricted to that though. If you’d like, I could pick some things up for you.”“Well I was just going to suggest that I come with you.”He paused, “... I’d prefer you not.”And left Fjord confused there by the Evening Nip.———A fic where Caduceus ends up pregnant thanks to Pumat, but it’s OK because they love each other very, very much.
Relationships: Caduceus Clay/Pumat Sol
Comments: 9
Kudos: 93





	1. For Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> I found a fic in my files that I never finished, decided to fix it up and post it with no regards to properly update it with all the stuff that has happened as of late in the show. The time in which this takes place is a vague enigma.
> 
> EDIT: Fic was written and posted before Tal revealed Cad as aroace and I’m so excited by that!!! To be honest, I always kept in my mind to write Cad as ace, and had thought to continue writing this but to angle Cad as coming to terms with being aromantic. Ultimately, I think the fic is fine ending where it does. Still nice to read back on.

Not the most graceful exit, certainly left more questions than he had hoped to leave Fjord with. Caduceus needed a reason, but he also couldn’t lie. So really, it was a vague truth that came across more cold than he anticipated. Really, he hoped to have a proper answer by the time he returned…

More like a proper lie.

Following the familiar streets, the calmed dusk helping to make them traversable, Caduceus came to the door of the _Invulnerable Vagrant_. The door opens with ease and a chime plays after.

“Why hello there,” Speaks up Pumat from behind the counter, “Oh! Well if it isn’t Prime’s favorite guy.”

Caduceus smiles, “Hey, how’re we doing tonight?” He steps up in front of the simulacra.

“Not bad,” the Pumat shrugs, “Prime’s busy in the back, but I’m sure he’d be happy to see ya.”

“I wouldn’t want to bother him,” Caduceus says, sheepish.

“Not a bother at all,” He turned to a twin, “Hey Pumat-“

“Three’s already on it.”

“Oh good, thanks Pumat.”

“No problem, Pumat.”

And through the back door, a head pokes out of- _what Caduceus assumes is_ -Pumat #3, “Mr. Clay, Prime’ll see you in the back here.”

Caduceus nods and hurriedly walks behind the counter, going down the short corridor and being led to Pumat Prime’s workshop. There’s a potent smell of sulfur and ash, it does take Caduceus a moment just there at the door to allow his senses to be assaulted by the potency.

“Mr. Clay!”

This perks Caduceus’s attention back up to the firbolg lifting his goggles while sitting on a stool in front of the workbench that had various tools and crystals scattered about.

“Don’t be shy, come on in!”

Caduceus swallows dryly and steps into the room, taking a look back over his shoulder to check and ensure that Pumat #3 had not followed them in, “You look to be busy.”

“What? With this?” Pumat’s hand waves over the gauntlets, “Nah, come on, bring it in.”

Pumat pats his own thigh, and there is a moment of trepidation for Caduceus. He is hesitant, but not the least bit resistant. Once he took that first step forward, he automatically crossed the room to Pumat’s side, letting his burly arm hook around his waist and easily pull him down to sit on his lap.

When Pumat nuzzles into Caduceus’s neck, he is now putty in Pumat’s hands. Molding to shape around Pumat so perfectly and comfortably. For all the anxious noise in the back of his head, right now he was finding loosening those rigid joints and able to finally relax now that they were together.

Here. Alone.

“Been’a while now,” Pumat plants a kiss on the space under Caduceus’s ear, “I’d really been missin’ ya.”

“And so have I,” Caduceus sighs, there were words he was preparing himself to say, but he struggled to say them when this moment now was so peaceful. If they could just stay here several minutes more, he might get to remember back on this fondly.

They talk, Pumat asking questions about the last jaunt Caduceus had with the Mighty Nein, all while Caduceus spoke, Pumat kept his head rested to Caduceus’s chest as Caduceus draped an arm across Pumat’s shoulders. The enchanter’s hands emanate so much warmth, it helps lessen the tension on the knots in Caduceus’s back while the other hand pets idly at his hip. Something that would start distracting Caduceus when catching up to recent events in his story.

“-there is, um… Something I actually need to tell you about...” Caduceus says this, words petering off as his throat conspires against him by tightening with worry.

“Mmm?” Pumat hums with intrigue, he is just so happy to have Caduceus here, making this all the harder to speak.

At this point, a knot formed in Caduceus’s throat, he couldn’t swallow it down and he couldn’t speak. After a few failed attempts with opening and closing his mouth, barely a croaked voice able to escape each time, Caduceus finally decides the best way to tell is by showing. He manages to whisper the faintest and cracked, “ _Here._ ”

He lowers the sash of his pants, then slips his hand under Pumat’s palm that was rested on his thigh, bringing it to his lower abdomen. Pumat pulls his head back to look down, seeing as Caduceus presses on the back of his hand to feel against that lower part of his belly. This encourages Pumat to investigate more, his expression turning to a frown as he feels and rubs for the clue of what Caduceus was getting at.

“Huh,” Pumat looks to Caduceus, “You’ve managed to hold some weight I see!” He beams proudly.

Caduceus can’t help the blush that rises to his cheeks, _well he isn’t wrong,_ “Ah, I have.”

“Good on ya!” Pumat pats his tummy, “You could use it, the seasons are changing and it’s only going to get colder out!”

Caduceus puts his hand back over Pumat’s, “There’s more than that,” He says as he keeps Pumat’s hand pressed to that spot, “Do you remember… Last time I came to visit?”

Pumat chuckles to himself, “Oh that, and you were…”

“In a state, yes.”

Pumat’s smile slowly falters, words dead on arrival as there’s a new thought bubbling up in his mind. He quickly looks back down, and now he goes to pulling up Caduceus’s shirt. Bunching the fabric up to Caduceus’s chest, Pumat gets a better look now at the rounded swell to Caduceus’s belly. He was less portly like himself, and it was more concentrated to his lower abdomen. Pumat’s hand comes again to cup alongside it, and quickly is connecting the dots.

“I found out roughly three weeks… Four weeks ago?” Caduceus finally found the courage to speak, “But I know when we were together last it had been quite awhile.”

_Quite awhile indeed_ , Pumat gauged by how much of Caduceus’s belly fit so well in his hand, “... Oh Caduceus…”

“I’m sorry,” Caduceus apologizes before then being pulled into a big, warm hug. Pumat’s arms pull him in by the ribs, burying his face into Caduceus’s chest.

There’s a warm, instant relief to Caduceus as he can once again, relax himself against Pumat to see that he wasn’t reacting _badly_ to this news. There is a hand that rubs along his bare back, focusing down on the small of it where a growing knot had formed from the ache and tension that this new distribution of weight caused.

Pumat pulls back enough for him to look up at Caduceus with the kindest smile, a hand of Caduceus’s rests on Pumat’s cheek, “C-caduceus,” His hand reaches up and holds the one on his cheek, “Please stay.”

That tender smile Caduceus gave back was then not so wide, his eyes drifted from Pumat’s eyes to his shoulder. There was hesitation, and it took entirely too long for Caduceus to finally speak up.

“I couldn’t.” Caduceus says.

“Of course you can, there’s plenty of room here for you, for _them_ ,”

“But… The Mighty Nein.”

Pumat’s brows are knit with worry, “Wha…”

“They depend on me.“

“Caduceus—“

“They need me to be there for them—“

“-duces you’re pregnant, you’ll get hurt!”

“That’s fine, I’ve already healed before.”

“While _pregnant_??”

Caduceus hushes up quickly, Pumat is staring at him hard. The realization soon dawning on him.

“Caduceus Clay,” Pumat squeezes his hand, “I cannot and will not stand-” He glances to the stool, “-will not **sit** idly by and watch you go out there, doing your dangerous _adventuring hero_ things, and wind up hurting yourself and- _and_ …”

“I’ll be alright,” Caduceus insists, employing that ever serious calm that he has managed to use when braving against danger before, “I’ve managed, and I will continue to do so, I can promise you that.”

Pumat starts and fails to say anything, he then looks back up on Caduceus and sees that angelic smile of his. The lamp shining just right against the back of his head, giving him almost a golden halo around his hair and lighting up his ears. Was it too cheesy for him to think that Caduceus is _glowing_?

“The Mighty Nein have important work to do, and it’s not just for the safety of others, but…” Caduceus finds himself starting to get that knot back in his throat, this time in feeling a shift in his heart, “... They’re all people who need my help. And I want to make sure each of them gets to where they want to be.”

“What about me?”

Caduceus’s eyes widen.

“What if… I need you _here?_ ” Pumat asks, “What if I need to wake up with you in my arms every morning, where I know you’re safe, warm, well rested and fed good?”

He gives a chaste kiss to Caduceus’s jaw, “What if I built us a roof garden, somewhere you can make your own and plant all sorts of vegetables and flowers,” 

Another kiss, “What if we make dinners together in the evenings, I can cut up the vegetables and you stir the soup. Then we get to have the best vegetable stew in all of Zadash together,” 

A kiss to his chin, “And then, we build a new room here for the little tyke, who gets to grow up happy and loved.”

And before Caduceus even attempts to protest, Pumat is kissing him on the lips, his chest a flutter with love and warmth.

As they part, faces barely an inch apart, Pumat pleads one last time, “Please stay..?”

Caduceus is looking from Pumat’s eyes to his lips, and he leans in, pressing their foreheads together, “... For tonight.”

“No, for longer than that,” Pumat kisses Caduceus’s lips again.

“ _Mhh_ ,” Caduceus’s face flourishes with more blushing, “There’s so much…”

“And it’ll just have to wait for 9 more months,” Pumat compromises, “Please stay until you’ve had the baby, then you can finish your business and… We’ll be here.”

Caduceus feels guilty that he can’t even find that to be a reasonable amount of time to wait. And yet, he hasn’t even told the Mighty Nein about this development. They weren’t going to let him continue once they found out about his pregnancy. And it was certainly not going to be much longer until then. He was just barely able to cover it up as is.

Thinking it over a minute more, Caduceus finally exhales a held breath, “... Alright.”

Pumat smiles again, “I’ll hold up to every word, I’ll get the other Pumats to go buy us some timber and we’ll get started on building that garden first thing tomorrow!”

He happily showers kisses over Caduceus’s cheeks, holding him in close and warmly. And Caduceus starts to relax in the arms of his new home.


	2. For Days to Weeks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just HAD to write more. It was gnawing at me to continue this further.

Goodbyes were difficult, and it was certainly no easier having to say goodbye to so many friends all at once. They were setting out of Zadash early in the morning, while the streets were sleepy and the sun dawned just behind the rooftops of the buildings.

Each time he said it to someone else, he got a little more choked up. Pumat stood back, watching each exchange of words and hugs that were had. Going down the line, he gave gifts to some of the Mighty Nein members. Returning the periapt to Caleb as he was less inclined to be in danger here in Zadash, and sharing a good portion of his tea. Finally, coming down the line to Fjord, Caduceus was already teary eyed, but he got to stand here in front of him now.

Caduceus tried to condense core messages to each of the Mighty Nein members, as while he had hoped to stick around to see them grow and progress, he was now having to put it on a hard “ _until next time we meet_ ”. It wasn’t until getting to Fjord where Caduceus got a good, long look over him. _Wow_ , Caduceus exhaled through his nose, seeing his hair grow out and standing with more confidence in himself, _genuine_ confidence.

There were no words, instead, Caduceus came right in for the hug. A warm, tight hug that lasted for a few moments. Fjord seemed to melt back into it, pliable and molding to fit into it. He pats Caduceus’s back.

“Proud of you,” Caduceus’s words are watery as he shudders them out with a chuckle.

Fjord then even sniffs, patting Caduceus’s back again, “It certainly won’t be the same without you,” He sighs, and painfully he pulls back, “Until we meet again?”

Caduceus smiles, tears bubbling in fat globules around his eyes lashes, on blinking they roll down his cheeks, and he finally lets out a sob.

“Aw Caduceus,” Jester is equally as red in the face and cheeks glisten with wetness from her own tears, “I promise to message you every night when it is possible! And-and we’ll be back to see you!”

He smiles even more at that, “I look forward to it.”

“Yeah, take it easy, dude,” Beau says, clearing her own throat that was cinching up, nose and eyes rosy-ing up to deceive her tough exterior, “And don’t try to rush yourself into recovering or whatever. Our bullshit isn’t anything that needs you risking you and your kid over, you hear me?”

Caduceus nods.

Beau sniffs, rubbing her nose to try and play it off, “Good. Cause I know you’re gonna make a great dad.”

With final goodbyes shared, the Mighty Nein turn to walk down the street, as then watches longingly seeing them go. His feet almost instinctively try to walk him along with them. As he watches, he feels a hand touch the small of his back, before slowly wrapping around his waist. Standing there by him was Pumat, watching warmly at the Mighty Nein, then turning to Caduceus who continues to streak tears down his face.

“They’ll be back,” Pumat reassures him, a hand comes and thumbs away the tears to properly kiss his cheek.

“I know,” Caduceus’s voice cracks out, “I still can’t help but to worry.”

“Well I think ya done good with ‘em,” Pumat smiles, “Each of ‘em look to be much more worldly than the last time I saw any of you,” His hand comes up to part some strands of Caduceus’s hair, “Like you! Already goin’ gray I see.”

Caduceus chuckles, “Well now, that’s from being away from home.”

Pumat’s hand lets the hair drop back down over Caduceus’s shoulder, “Oh?”

Caduceus leans in to kiss Pumat’s cheek back, “Thank you.”

A little distracted by the kiss, Pumat lets his inquisitive thoughts perish to the wind. Instead, he grins all the wider, and tugs Caduceus along back inside the _Invulnerable Vagrant_.

* * *

Living in Zadash for longer than a couple weeks, Caduceus comes to realize just how cramped it actually is. Travel often meant a reprieve from the bustling cities by being out on the quiet roads through vast and empty fields and valleys. He wasn’t sure if the excitement of the city made him more fatigued or the pregnancy.

It was funny, he perhaps got the most sleep than he’d even gotten while traveling on the road, yet he was only more tired.

That project set up by Pumat Prime to make a rooftop garden was slowly shaping into an earnest reality. There was an attic space from which they knocked out some of the roofing. This was unfortunate as one morning, the heavens opened up.

While sharing breakfast in the upstairs apartment here in the Invulnerable Vagrant, Caduceus noticed a droplet of water drip into his teacup. Curious by it, he looks to the ceiling.

“Uhh… Pumat?”

“Mmh?” Pumat hums as he lifts his head from the stove he cooked over.

“Think we have some… Leakage.”

Pumat turns, looking at Caduceus. And then he feels a droplet land on his own head. Taking a moment, he looks up at the ceiling as well.

That morning was then spent taking all the cups, mugs, bowls, and even a bucket to place around the apartment floor. All while Prime and two other Pumats hurried to the roof to quickly patch and repair.

Only one Pumat was left to run the shop on the ground floor. Having to postpone work done on any enchantments for the day.

Caduceus couldn’t help but laugh while he and Pumat #3 mopped up the puddles gathering on the floors.

“We used to have leaks through our roof at home all the time,” Caduceus says, shaking his head, “It was often so bad trying to catch all the spots, some of the spots on the floors were just permanently warped or moss grew in those spots. So it made it easier to know where the leaks would strike and where we’d need to place down a cup or bowl.”

Pumat #3 laughs, “Oh geez, that must’a been a real hassle to have to try and clean up then.”

Caduceus shrugs, “Truthfully, we left the moss to be, it didn’t hurt anything being there.”

“Oh, don’t think ol’ Prime is too keen to having things grow outta these floorboards.”

“Ah, I don’t imagine,” Caduceus sighs, “Our benefit back at the Grove was that our floors were stone. With the wooden floors like in the house extensions, then that’s where the boards can rot if not dealt with.”

Thankfully, the rain passes, giving Prime and the Pumats time to expedite their work on the securing of the rooftop garden space, and the sun coming through the parted clouds was nice for throwing open the windows and letting the breeze help dry the apartment floors.

  
  


As days came to pass, Pumat closed the shop early before sunset one evening, coming to the living space on the second floor. Plants in clay pots had started to populate around the apartment, and Caduceus gently watered one such plant by the window. The visage of Caduceus there in front of the window as the sky was painted in colors of orange and pinks was immaculate. 

Pumat simply took a moment to admire him from afar, before Caduceus took notice of him.

“Finished for today?” Caduceus asks, holding the small watering can in both hands.

Pumat strides across the room to meet Caduceus, “Yup! And I thought that maybe the _you and I_ could go out for the evening?”

Caduceus looks to the watering can in his hands, eyes half lidded while considering it.

“We could have a nice dinner, I think you could use some newer clothes to help fill out that drawer you own in that dresser of ours,” Pumat’s palm presses warmly into the soft swell that was kept discreet under Caduceus’s shirt and with the help of his high waist pants, “You might also like to think about clothes that will fit you comfortably later down the line too.”

Caduceus turns up to Pumat, and the two share a quick kiss on their lips, “That sounds nice.”

The sky slowly shifts from the bring pinks and reds and into the deep blue to black sky that shows twinkling stars above. Though as the evening shifted to night, the street lamps were lit to burn bright, and late shops and boutiques had light pour through the windows, welcoming yellow tones and glistening displays.

It was a loving evening shared between the two. Pumat had the chance to introduce Caduceus with some of the local store owners he was well acquainted with. Meeting these new faces and getting proper names put to them was slowly painting a picture for Caduceus of a lively community that co-existed here within the Pentamarket.

Stumbling down the streets together, after enjoying good food and carrying bags with boxes of newly folded up clothes, somewhere on their walk, music pours out from within a tavern they happen to pass. Pumat grins eagerly, slipping the handles of the bag up his arm as he takes Caduceus’s hand in his, and comes around to put a hand to his waist.

“Oh?” Caduceus’s cheeks lightly flush as he seems to have one hand that can’t decide where to hold onto Pumat.

“Come on, it’s not that hard,” Pumat encourages, as his foot slides back along the cobblestone, “Step forward with your opposite foot.”

“Ah,” Caduceus looks down, their bellies were touching so he had to cock his head to see where Pumat’s foot was, “Hm, I’m not typically used to this form of dance.”

“It’s easy! It’s really just a lot of walking in circles,” Pumat reaches down and pats the side of Caduceus’s thigh, “Come on then!”

Conceding with a sigh, Caduceus then slides his foot awkwardly after Pumat’s. Then, Pumat’s hip nudges against Caduceus’s, getting him to move his foot and then follow with him, “That’s it!” Pumat praises.

They start off slow, Pumat leading and helping keep Caduceus balanced. As they move along, he picks up the pace. Eventually there is a rhythm that they get into.

Of course, Caduceus loses the synchronization of their feet, even with Pumat’s counting of 1-2-3-4, there’s a moment where Caduceus forgets to lift his foot and Pumat nearly kicks out his shin. They stumble a moment together, Pumat’s arm swoops around Caduceus’s hips to keep his butt from hitting the hard ground.

“Whoa there,” Pumat says, helping Caduceus right himself, “Sorry-so sorry! Didn’t hurt ya, did I?”

Caduceus simply chuckles, leaning himself in and against Pumat, “Not at all. That was mainly on me.”

So long as he was laughing, Pumat’s soul lifted from the guilt that weighed on it, giving a sympathetic smile, Pumat pulls his hand in to kiss, “With practice, you’ll get the hang of it, but you did good!”

Keeping their hands held, Pumat walks alongside Caduceus back down towards the _Invulnerable Vagrant_.

  
  


Another week comes to pass, and Pumat notices something off about Caduceus that day. He hardly eats from his plate, he watches out the window down on the street of the Pentamarket, and turns into bed before they can even have dinner together.

Caduceus lies curled up on his side, in the dark of the room with the blinds drawn. He isn’t asleep, so he sees the light pour in through the door that opens, and hears the floorboards creak under each step taken by presumably one of the Pumats, if not Prime himself, and then feels the bed shift when he sits down on it from the other side.

“... Caduceus?”

The response from him is a soft sigh.

An arm comes around, draping over Caduceus’s side and then a warm body presses to his back.

“Copper for your thoughts?”

Caduceus pulls his arm out from under Pumat’s so that his arm overlaps his, “... Jester hasn’t messaged me for a few days now.”

Pumat hums, “... You worried about them?”

There’s a humorless chuckle from him, “How can’t I?”

Pumat rests his mouth and nose to Caduceus’s shoulder, staying with him in that silence there together.

“... I miss my home.”

“Hm?”

“The Blooming Grove,” Caduceus clarifies, “For some reason, I didn’t feel it right to return home until I saw a natural conclusion to the Mighty Nein. Then with this arrangement, I…” There’s a pause, as Caduceus forces an inhale through his nose, “I had some hope in this feeling more like home, but it’s still taking time to really sink in.”

Pumat listens, allowing to wait for Caduceus to stop talking before he lifts his chin to rest on Caduceus’s shoulder now to speak, “Caduceus? Would you be happier if you were living at the Blooming Grove instead?”

Another sigh, “I can’t say for sure. It’s strange, because I’m so sure that there’s more I need to do before I can go back. Yet… I’m not sure what that is,” Caduceus’s fingers interweave between Pumat’s, “You’re needed here, you’re _happy_ here.”

“Well I’m not happy because of the place,” Pumat says, “Sure it has its perks, but I’m happiest doing what it is I do. My work can move with me, I can adapt!” His fingers squeeze around Caduceus’s, “What’d make me the happiest right now? Is by doing whatever it is to put a smile back on your face.”

There’s a soft, one note hum that Caduceus lets slip out, a smile does begin to tug at his lips, “But there’s the garden.”

“Well, whoever gets this place after us will get a lovely rooftop garden to boot.”

Caduceus pulls Pumat’s hand up, kissing at his thumb knuckle, before guiding his hand back down to rest at his side, “As much as I miss it, I think I’d like some time to think it over more.”

The two lie there quietly in the dark. Pumat allowed for Caduceus to ruminate and be held by him. Though eventually, Pumat insists for Caduceus to have a proper dinner meal before going to rest, and coaxes him from the bed to the dining table.

* * *

“Watch your step,” Pumat holds his hands out at either side as Caduceus climbs the steep staircase to the attic. The once narrow space was vast and open now, as a deck was built with a protective railing. And surrounding the railing were boxes built, already filled with dirt. The deck provided space for several more of those boxes, or space for pots and planters to sit.

Caduceus walks out onto it, the view from here was tucked behind the front of the store, instead now facing the back alleys that converged together by several of the shops populating the Pentamarket. Though, this did make for sounds of the market to be put behind them.

Pumat follows up behind him, and looks around the deck, “Admittedly, had hoped to make it bigger, but uh heh, this is a pretty nice start! Someday we could just do away with the attic back here and level it out for more room,” He looks proudly over the work he and the other Pumats put into it, “For now, thought it might be nice to keep it fairly privatized, y’know?”

Caduceus looks to Pumat with just the brightest, beaming face, “I absolutely love it.”

Pumat eagerly grins back, “Well, it’s all yours! And you can do with it whatever you please.”

Caduceus comes over, hugging Pumat. He then shares back in the hug.

“And I love you very much.”


End file.
